The gaming platform Steam enjoys worldwide popularity. Download data shows that even in Antarctica, gamers are indulging in their hobby.
How does a Steam user get to the Arctic? That’s what many players were wondering when Steam’s global download statistics showed a single green activity point in Antarctica in March. On Reddit, people guessed that they were bored scientists in one of the research stations – or penguins.
Our colleagues Vida Extra spoke to a gamer who is actually on Steam from Antarctica. As it turns out, it’s not a penguin, but 24-year-old Rodrigo Forneron, a student from Argentina.
Valheim is one of the games Rodrigo Forneron plays to pass the time in the Arctic.
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Gambling in sub-zero temperatures and endless days
What are gamers doing in Antarctica? When he’s not gaming, Forneron is an electrical engineering student. He has been stationed at the Belgrano II research station, about 1,300 km north of the South Pole, for several months.
As a scientific technician, Forneron is responsible for the instrument maintenance and control routines. The devices must still work reliably even in freezing temperatures.
In general, the conditions in Antarctica are quite harsh: the temperatures are between −2 °C and −54 °C, in the summer it is light for 4 months, in the winter it is dark – the rest of the year something in between. Forneron gets some variety by gaming.
The 24-year-old admits that he spends more time gaming at the base than usual. On average it is around 2 hours a day.
Internet in Antarctica: “Every now and then you can watch a YouTube video”
And what is he playing about? As the student explains to Vida Extra, he brought games that he had already downloaded on his laptop that he could play offline on site. The internet connection is – unsurprisingly – rather poor and usage is sometimes limited.
The lab has a bit more bandwidth than the rest of the base due to data priority. Internet access is complicated. There are days when it works and others when you can’t even send WhatsApp messages. And they try to limit the applications. Every now and then you can watch a YouTube video, but that’s about it,
Titles like Dark Soulks, Fallout, The Witcher, Project Zomboid and Valheim keep Forneron company in Antarctica. As the 24-year-old reports, he was even pleasantly surprised when he connected to the network via cable and started Steam online: It worked relatively well.
However, online games are taboo: “I haven’t tried it out of respect for the rest of the crew, but I really doubt that you can.”
So it seems unlikely that Forneron is solely responsible for the nearly 89GB downloaded on Steam in the past 7 days. It seems as if there are also gamers in other research stations in Antarctica who happily use the valuable bandwidth of their base to play games.
The 24-year-old also reports that he is the only Steam user in his base. However, a colleague has his Xbox Series X with him and uses GamePass.
Could you imagine working under these conditions? And of course: Which games would you take with you on a trip lasting several months to a research station in Antarctica? Please let us know in the comments.
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